The light of a Rosette
2024 is over and what a year it was! I want to thank everyone who shared their support and enthusiasm for what I am doing with my art. This year I really wanted to focus on exploring, risktaking, expanding, and just really stretching how I create in my still relatively new journey as a visual artist. So, when someone likes, follows, comments, visits my artwork on display in a gallery or art center, clicks on my website, or makes a purchase, it is all very much so greatly appreciated and it absolutely warms my heart.
I have been drawing and “coloring” since I was a toddler. At least that’s what my dad always used to say. He told everyone that I’ve had a pencil (or crayon, pen, or marker….) in my hand ever since I was two years old. Like many children do, I loved drawing little cartoons, my own personal designs, and embellishing letters, envelopes, and notes with doodles. I was always making and painting things, exploring with art supplies, doing crafts.
Over the years, all this became dormant as I focused on academics, then college, then marriage & motherhood, and finally a demanding career. It wasn’t until only recently that I made being creative and exploratory again a big priority.
I grew up in a house that was filled with color. My mother was not afraid to have differently colored rooms in the house and as I now study English home decor I see that her lack of fear in this regard should really be no surprise. We had a red kitchen, an orange & brown family room, and a black & lime green living room with an adjoining black & white hallway.
My mother loved patterns — so our home was filled with beautiful rugs, drapes, table cloths, bedspreads, pillows, wallpaper, and upholstery. Add in some colorful English bone china, red/white/black Marimekko “everyday” dishes, painted mid-19th century chairs (turquoise, orange, black) and so many beautiful “things.” We were surrounded by the beauty and stimulation of colors and shapes. It all sounds a bit visually chaotic but actually there was both a comfortable flow and an intoxicating excitement to it all.
Flash forward many decades and now my home is very much the same (minus the lime green)….and so is my art. It is full of dramatic color, lots of tiny details like black dots & lines, and lots of organic shapes all flowing together.
More and more I see the environmental influences of our family home, from my formative years, in my art. Now, more and more, each time I complete one of my pieces I “see” where I came from.
I’m excited about 2025 and the pieces I’m working on now. I’m looking forward to showing these at Blue Moon Gallery later in the spring. These include works from two series: “Home Is Where the Cells Are” and “Cellular Leaf Glow: From the Girl Who Loves Leaves.” There will be more, I’m sure.
This year I went to England for 10 days and became captivated by the rosettes in stained glass windows that I saw everywhere — in both the ancient and even more modern-day architecture. This imagery (below) is my version of the rosette idea. With my rosette I attempt to release cellular healing bursts of color to light our way in the new year ahead.
Thank you for being on this journey with me! I hope you might invite others to come along by sharing my website with folks who might like what I’m doing.
I really appreciate you and how much you have encouraged me. I wish you the very best in 2025. May everything you hope for comes true and that you are blessed with health and happiness and the love of good friends and your family.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Cellular Healing Rosette: To Light Our Way (Mixed Media)
(Also, I just want to say “Thank you, Mumma.”)
